Software-defined wide area networking (SD-WAN) services and cloud-access provider Bigleaf Networks partnered with technology reseller TBI to help organizations optimize access to cloud applications.

Bigleaf Networks takes a unique approach to SD-WAN. Rather than focusing on replacing or even augmenting MPLS, the provider uses SD-WAN as a way to ensure cloud application performance.

The company has its own cloud-access network that routes traffic over the public Internet and “hands that traffic to cloud providers” like Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform (GCP), said Jeff Burchett, co-founder and VP of sales and marketing at Bigleaf. The company identifies as a service provider because its cloud network provides all of the core services a provider would have such as load balancing, quality-of-service, and monitoring of traffic.

“Bigleaf has our own network, own software, and our own network service team through partners like TBI,” Burchett said. “We’re an overlay network using real-time monitoring and routing to adapt the movement of traffic across any network to a location of providers giving access to cloud applications and services.”

The company relies on channel resellers like TBI and Telarus to provide its customers with access to Bigleaf’s network, connectivity, and other third-party software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications like voice-over IP (VoIP). All Bigleaf’s network is responsible for is connecting users to cloud applications through the most optimized connection path, which the customer can pick. The company’s network uses CenturyLink and Zayo Group for connectivity.

Bigleaf's resellers also negotiate contracts with major carriers and cloud providers to offer enterprises bundles of connectivity.

Additionally, Bigleaf intentionally kept security separate from its platform, allowing customers to pick whichever security vendors they want.

Burchett said that Bigleaf will not win every SD-WAN deal out there because the company’s solution isn’t focused on connecting branch offices to one another, which is where many of the other SD-WAN vendors’ strategies lie. “If you have a 75-site retailer that’s moving some of its services to the cloud and wants to maintain their firewalls, then that’s a homerun deal for us,” he explained.

The Portland, Oregon-based startup was founded in 2013 and has 14 employees. The company has raised $1.6 million to date led by Oregon Angel Fund.